The lifting fingers guard positions plates along the palm side of the two middle fingers and along the portion of the palm adjacent to the two middle fingers, while leaving remaining fingers free, so that the plates distribute the weight of objects being lifted over the area of the plates thus reducing the pressure which otherwise would make lifting difficult.
The invention is based on two discoveries. The first discovery is that plates can be positioned at the two middle fingers and a portion of the palm adjacent to the two middle fingers so that the weight of objects being lifted is distributed over the area of plates making it easier to lift objects because the pressure on smaller areas of the fingers and palm is greatly reduced. The second discovery is that plates should be only positioned on the two middle fingers and not the other fingers because the mobility of fingers other than the middle two fingers provide control of the object being lifted and must not be interfered with.
Various guards worn on all or part of a hand are shown in prior art; for example, by Auster in U.S. Pat. No. 1,887,278, by Stubbs in U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,436, by Dimitroff in U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,614, by Berger in U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,241, by Dawiedczyk in U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,350, by Najac in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,660, and by Micheloni in U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,188. None of these--and no combination of these--suggests plates positioned just under the two middle fingers and on a portion of the palm adjacent to the two middle fingers which would distribute the weight of an object being lifted over the area of the plates.